The women who made Kenya

The late Prof Wangare Maathai.

The image of motherland is often fondly used to refer to our homes, and especially to our countries. Yet, quite often, they seem to be motherlands with anonymous mothers, or without mothers. Even in the very best of circumstances, our mothers have been confined to the shadows of the fathers that begat us – even as whole nations. 

In Kenya, we love to speak of “the founding fathers” of our republic. These are the men who participated in the political making of our republic. We especially think about them as the people who fathered our independence. They are variously the men who were involved with the Lancaster House Constitutional talks of 1960-62 and those who engaged in various forms of resistance against colonial rule. There are also those who were active political actors in the early years of independence.